The five-day programme for the beach volleyball coaches is being conducted by FIVB expert and CAVB Online Academy instructor, Mohammed Benhamida at the Higher Performance Centre, Package B of the National Stadium, Abuja

According to NVBF President Musa Nimrod, the coaching course will be a turning point regarding the quality of NVBF train 25 beach volleyball coaches in Nigeria who are technically sound but are not FIVB certified as professional.

He said: “The last beach volleyball coaching course that took place in Nigeria was 2002 and the title of the course then was ‘Starting the Game’. It was a refresher course and not high-level coaching course like the one going on right now.

“This is FIVB certifies coaching course and it is categories as one of the high level beach volleyball coaching course. There are two FIVB beach volleyball coaching courses which are categories into online and physical course. But we chose to go with physical coaching course because of it flexibility and affordability.

“It is a 5-day training course and it is going be a huge success for us because the instructor is taking the coaches in both practical and theory. The enthusiasm is huge and we are delighted to have the privilege of having an international course in this country for the very first time.

“We have coaches but none of them can be regarded as professional but by the end of this course, their status would have changed which will see them earn respect everywhere they go because they are FIVB certified coaches.”

Course Instructor, Benhamida expressed joy that more African coaches are getting certified by the world governing body, and urged participants to take the course serious noting whatever they learn will reflect in their coaching philosophy.

He said the course is part of CAVB strategy in line with its objective of improving beach volleyball coaching system in Africa.

“We believe that in term of coaching and education, Africans should manage the affair of coaching African teams and also serve coaching instructors. We have the equality and team instructors from different countries that can manage such courses in the continent. Since we started in 2016 and we are also working closely with different departments in CAVB to improve African teams.

“Our focus is on 2022 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal and the target is to have at least one African team in the podium finish. But the best result is to have three African teams in the podium. This is what we are working towards it by develop our coaches to groom the players.

“After this coaching course which is National Level One, the best among the participating coaches will be selected for Continental Coaching Course in continuation of the training course.

“It’s a very huge privilege that we are having this programme in Nigeria for the first time and I want the coaches to take course serious.”